The applications were sent from 35 countries from all over the world, literally from all  continents. Male and female gymnasts from Australia and USA will perform here for the first time, and female and male exercisers from Argentina, Venezuela, Puerto Rico, Brazil will also come to Osijek. Special attention will be certainly drawn by performances by some previous and current World, Olympic, and European champions.

For the second time in Osijek, Diego Hypollito from Brazil will perform, and also excellent Hungarian exerciser on the pommel horse Krisztian Berki, then Alex Shatilov from Israel, and, for example, Elettherios Kosmidi from Greece and Enrique Thomas Gonzales Sepulveda from Chile are scheduled to perform on the floor exercises. The special charm to the competition will be provided by the representatives from United Kingdom. In the year when their country will be the host of the Olympics, Osijek will serve them as the preparation for London, therefore, British national team will be led by Daniel Keattings, Kristian Thomas and Max Whitlock.

Of course, Croatia too will have its aces for the medal. Primarily, we can expect the battle for the first place from Robert Seligman and Tomislav Marković from Osijek, our Olympic winners Filip Ude and Tina Erceg, and then Tijana Tkalčec, and Mario Možnik, if he recovers from the injuries he obtained on exercises on the preparations for his performance in Cottbus, and also the permanent member of our national team Marko Brez. Grand Prix Osijek will be an opportunity for the young Croatian forces to present themselves. 17-year old Andrej Korosteljev will perform for the first time in his hometown, and Osijek girls will be presented by two 16-year olds Ema Kajić and Stella Petran.

Well conducted organization during the previous years, and the famous Slavonian hospitality proved itself to be the winning combination for attracting gymnasts. Therefore, according to the announcements, Osijek will be visited by 400 male and female exercisers, and their supporting staff. This is a significant contribution to promotion of our city across the world, and the City of Osijek, on the recently held meeting, gave its full support to this years’ edition of the World Cup.

Gymnastics club Osijek-Žito, as the executive organizer of this competition, will once again in the year of 2012 put in its maximum efforts, so that male and female gymnasts from China, USA, Germany, France, Great Britain, Brasil and other countries would feel as comfortable as possible in our city. In any case, it is very important to retain the reputation of one of the best organized competitions in the world of gymnastics.

“The record breaking number of the registered countries is the indicator that Osijek, despite its modest financial resources for the competition of this level, managed to attract the best male and female exercisers. Once again this year, we will give our best to increase this competition, in the organizational sense, to the higher level, and to show all of the visitors that Osijek deserves this kind of sporting event“-said Vladimir Mađarević, director of the competition.

Of course, the most important attraction for the visitors will be performances by domestic forces- Robert Seligman, Tomislav Marković, Filip Ude, Mario Možnik, Tina Erceg, Tijana Tkalčec and others. Medals won in Osijek up until now are a proof that Croatian gymnastics national team can more than successfully cope with the foreign competition.

Osijek is proving from year to year that it is the city of gymnastics, and we do not have any doubts that those who visit us this year will be assured of this fact. See you at the Grand Prix Osijek Zito Challenge Cup 2012!

We hope and believe that even in 2012. the City of Osijek and the
Gymnastic Association Žito Osijek, as the chief organizer of the event,
will justify the expectations of participants and visitors, and once again
show that Osijek is – the city of gymnastics.

See you at the Grand Prix of Osijek 2012th!

Fahrig the best in vault qualifications

Mathias Fahrig from Germany earned the top score in a men vault competition. Two times he got referee’s score 15.750, what was good enough for a first position. Second position won Ukrainian Igor Radivilov, who scored a bit less in a second try. Third was Pole Marek Lyszczarz (15.750, 15.300).

Tan from China the best, Erceg in final of floor

Tina Erceg from Split is first croatian representative in finals. In a women floor she scored 13.450 point, what was good enough for the fourth position.  Chinese Tan Si Xin took the first place with 14.000 points, while second and third place won Pole Marta Pihan-Kulesza and Israeli Valeriia Maksiuta, both with 13.600 points. Another croatian representative, Tijana Tkalčec from Čakovec won the 12th score (11.850) and hasn’t qualified for the finals.

Chinese Xuan Luo the best in rings qualifications

Chinese representative Luo Xuan qualified in the finals with the best score (15.450) Next to him was his compatriot, Junlin Liao, with 15.350, while third place holds ukrainian gymnast Oleksandr Vorobyov (14.800).  In the finals are also representatives of Syria, Germany, Luxembourg and Poland.

Chinesewomen dominant in uneven bars qualifications

By far the best in uneven bars qualifications were Chinesewomen Liu Fang Wu (14.850) and Si Xin Tan (14.350). Pole Marta Pihan-Kulesza won the third place (13.800). Croatian representatives, Ines Salopek (9.750) and Dina Madir (8.800) didn’t suceed to get into finals.

Chinese, Pole and Slovenian the best in parallel bars

Convincingly the best score earned Chinese Guanyin Wang (15.700), followed by Pole Roman Kulesza and Slovenian Mitja Petkovšek, both with score 15.250. From Croatian representatives performed Marko Brez (13.300) and Alen Jurčević (12.150), but didn’t suceed to get into finals.

World cup Osijek 2011. – qualifications (.pdf 1Mb)

yesterday morning, FIG revealed Definitive Registration list for Challenger Cup Grand prix Osijek 2011. We are very pleased to see to many gymnasts from all over the world is willing to come to Osijek and be part of this sport event. We hope that everyone is going to have great time here in Croatia!

Best regards,

Organizing Committee of Challenger Cup Grand prix Osijek 2011.

9/6/2011 – Definitive Osijek (.pdf 166kb)